ABSTRACT
The 1990s have witnessed an unprecedented surge in interest and activity in collaborations between firms and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with an impressive number of initiatives currently in operation across the globe (see Lober 1997; Murphy and Bendell 1997a). While research into these developments has, to date, been relatively limited, it has become dear that quite specific questions, issues and problems arise in the context of business-NGO collaboration compared to the rather more researched phenomenon ofbusiness-business collaboration (e.g. Varadaraj an and Rajaratnam 1989; Hamel et al. 1989; Oliver 1990). Indeed, given that the goal sets of the organisations involved are almost by definition going to be weighted very differently in terms of commercial and social objectives, differences, even dashes, in organisational cultures and values might be expected to be an intrinsic part of such ventures (Hartman and Stafford 1996; Milne et al. 1996). To date, this issue has received scant attention in the literature, and therefore the time for more considerable reflection and analysis of these posited dashes, and their role in influencing the success or otherwise of programmes designed to promote sustainable development,. is considerably overdue.
